Usable, unusable items and curses.

[abbath]

If I have an item usable only from (let's say) Dwarfs,but I'm not one,can I put it down sideways (just to clarify that it's not giving me bonuses) or must I keep it in my hand(and sell it discard it,etc)?

Also if I can put it down and it's let's say a shield and draw a curse to lose a shield,can I lose this item,or only from the ones that I use?

Edit: I reviewed the rules about 'carried' and 'equipped' items. If I didn't get it wrong, I can carry any items (even if they're usable only from a specific race,class or gender which I'm not),put them sideways in front of me and equip only those that I can use with my character and get bonuses from them. I also can carry only 1 item (unless I'm dwarf,have the cheat card,etc). Right? It seems I lost it in translation. The rules in english,make it more clear. But I still don't know if I can lose a carried item with a curse or only an equipped one.